Re: [PATCH v3 04/11] Prepare `paint_down_to_common()` for handling shallow commits

[Dirk Gouders <dirk@gouders.net>]

"Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> Currently, that logic pretends that a missing parent commit is
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> equivalent to a missing parent commit, and for the purpose of
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                  
> `--update-shallow` that is exactly what we need it to do.

Chances are that I am wrong, but to me the above sounds very irritating.

> Therefore, let's introduce a flag to indicate when that is precisely the
> logic we want.
>
> We need a flag, and cannot rely on `is_repository_shallow()` to indicate
> that situation, because that function would return 0: There may not
> actually be a `shallow` file, as demonstrated e.g. by t5537.10 ("add new

Again, I'm not a native speaker but I understand the above as
"There may not even be an existing `shallow` file...".

I'm not sure -- the sentence just "feels" uncomfortable to me.

Dirk